Is The Castle Of Otranto The First Gothic Novel?

"He is Keegan. Don't ever get in trouble with him. He's from The Dragomirs. And you know who they are," said Louisa Collins to Lyla Helliwell on the first day Lyla entered Gothic Academy. Sure, Lyla knew who they were. Very influential Vampire family. Wealthy and powerful. But, Keegan Dragomir had marked Lyla as a new object of bullying. "We hate witches. They don't deserve to be in the Freaky world. They are just human who pretend to have power like us, with their stupid potions," said Keegan. Gothic Academy was a special school for The Freakies---weird and magical kids. Vampire, Witch, Siren, Lycan, Goblin, Elf, to Centaur. Something huge and dangerous was happening there, made the two different kind of Freakies---Lyla and Keegan---who hated each other, have to work together to protect the school from danger. Meanwhile, the unfinished story of their parents long long ago, revealed.

On our fifth wedding anniversary, I nestled in the arms of my vampire husband, Alaric, and offered my neck to his lingering kisses. My breath caught as my hand fumbled in my pocket for the pregnancy test crystal. It glowed faintly, showing a clear positive result. I planned to reveal my pregnancy as my final surprise for the night: we were going to have a half-vampire child of our own. Alaric's confidant, Roman, grinned suggestively and asked in the Old Tongue of the Kindred: "Your Highness, and what of your childhood friend, the beautiful pureblood Elise? Does she satisfy you?" Alaric's mocking laughter rumbled against my chest, sending a chill down my spine. He replied in the same Old Tongue: "Like fire, wild and intensely hot. The harder you bite, the sweeter she yields." His fingertip was still tracing the bite marks on my neck, but his gaze was far away. "Just be sure to keep this quiet. I'd be ruined if my dear wife found out." The clansmen chuckled, raising their blood-filled goblets to pledge their secrecy. The warmth in my blood ran to ice. They had forgotten. Born of a noble human line that had intermarried with the Kindred for generations, I was fluent in their Old Tongue. I forced myself to remain calm, keeping the perfect hostess's smile plastered on my face, but the hand gripping my glass began to tremble. Alaric probably thought that if I found out, I would cry and demand to know why he treated me this way, just as I had before. But what he didn't know was that this time, everything was different. The marriage contract was void. I sent a message to my father: "Father, I've lost the bet. I am coming home to inherit the family estate."

Behind velvet curtains and gilded balconies, the opera is more than a performance. It's a hunting ground, a court of monsters disguised as patrons and benefactors. When a masked nobleman claims her talent as his own, Lyria is drawn into a world where music is power, restraint is survival, and desire is the most dangerous temptation of all. The longer Lyria remains under his protection, the more she awakens. Her body responds to hungers she does not yet understand and her are dreams invaded by a silver-eyed predator who promises freedom instead of restraint. As the opera's beauty curdles into something predatory, Lyria must decide what she is willing to become to survive it. The stage is watching. The city is listening. And once the blood sings, it cannot be silenced. TRIGGER/CONTENT WARNING: This story contains mature themes and content intended for adult audiences (18+) Reader discretion is advised. It includes moments of violence, sexual content and dark erotic elements, manipulation, obsession, and emotional power dynamics.

Learning who the countess is may be one thing. But falling in love with her brings so much more. With people begging to be part of the harem, it is only a matter of time before Wyatt discovers what is behind the enchantress known as the Countess, and why people are dying, literally, to be part of her world.

Willow Crest, an 18 year old Senior in High School was born with the gift of Premonitions that came in her dreams. As a Light Witch and a black sheep within her own town, Willow is constantly bullied by her peers, both Witches and regular students at her school. Even with her special skills, she is looked down on as the weakest in her Coven, some seeing her as an outcast as her mother was a Light Witch before her, but her father was a normal human being. Plagued with Depression and Anxiety, Willow was ready to end her torment until a fateful encounter with a tall, mysterious man with smoldering gold and red eyes convinces her that life was worth living. Dante Iscariot, a man that walked in the time of Christ. A participant in many wars. An observer to empires both rising and falling. Though civilizations aged, Dante didn't. No matter how many followers pledged their allegiance to him, no matter how many people he turned with his blood, none of them could fill the emptiness that was left inside of himself. Then one day, he met a young woman with short black hair and violet eyes when visiting a small town in Montana. He planned to turn her until he realized that they had a connection far stronger than he ever imagined. Book 1: Fated to the Werewolf King

One night with the Vampire King ruined me. I was never meant to be his. My name is Rosalinda Grace Stratford. A human Sancta. Raised in blood and obedience for one purpose only. To be mated to my family's sworn Sanguinari and bear his hybrid heir. All I wanted was one night. One choice. One experience that was mine alone. Instead, I shattered a covenant older than kingdoms. Now I am caught between two powerful vampires. One bound to me by sacred blood law. The other claimed by soulbound fate. And the secret I have kept hidden could bring the entire vampire thrall to its knees.